Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

port louis, mauritius — Mauritius held a parliamentary election Sunday in which Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his main rivals all promised to tackle a cost-of-living crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Polls closed at 6 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) and results were expected Monday, according to the country's electoral body. The country of about 1.3 million people markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, deriving most of its revenues from a flourishing offshore financial sector, tourism and textiles. Mauritius also receives aid from China. It has forecast 6.5% economic growth this year compared with 7.0% last year but many voters are not feeling the benefits. Jugnauth's Alliance Lepep coalition has promised to raise minimum wages, increase pensions and reduce value-added tax on some basic goods. It says it will use payments from the U.K. under an October agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the U.S.-U.K. Diego Garcia air base. "The alliance led by the prime minister is selling the economic prosperity card, with promises of more money to different segments of the population," said political analyst Subash Gobine. The opposition has also pledged to increase pensions as well as introduce free transport and internet services and reduce fuel prices. It is dominated by the Alliance du Changement coalition led by Navin Ramgoolam and two other parties running in the Linion Reform alliance, whose leaders, Nando Bodha and Roshi Bhadain, plan to alternate as prime minister if they win. Voters were picking lawmakers for the 62 seats in parliament for the next five years, from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances. Music instructor Ivan Mootooveeren, 41, who cast his ballot at a polling center in the capital, Port Louis, told Reuters he was voting for the opposition because the country needed a new direction. Another voter, David Stafford, 36, said young people would make the difference in the election. He did not say who he was voting for but added that people were looking for economic innovation and job opportunities as much as fiscal changes. Arvin Boolell, deputy leader of the Labour Party, a member of the opposition coalition, told Reuters voter turnout had likely exceeded 75%. The electoral body could not be immediately reached to give an official figure for turnout. Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister's post. Earlier this month, Jugnauth's government blocked social media platforms until a day after the election, citing national security concerns after conversations between public figures were leaked. It lifted the ban a day later after opposition parties criticized the move.

N'DJAMENA — Boko Haram insurgents killed 17 Chadian soldiers in a weekend attack on a military post that also left 96 of the assailants dead in the country's west, Chad's army said. The attack in the Lake Chad region happened on Saturday, army spokesperson Gen. Issakh Acheikh said on national television Sunday night. He did not provide details. The Lake Chad region has been plagued this year by frequent attacks from insurgents, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa. It has revived fears of violence after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist groups' bases. Last month, 40 soldiers were killed during an attack on a military base, prompting President Mahamat Deby Itno to launch an operation to dislodge Boko Haram militants from Lake Chad. In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers. Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against Western education, seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African neighbors including Cameroon, Niger and Chad. Chad, a country of nearly 18 million people, has been reeling from political turmoil before and after a controversial presidential election that resulted in Deby Itno’s victory. He had led the country as interim president during the period of military rule that followed the death of his father in 2021.

PORT LOUIS — Mauritius incumbent prime minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Monday that his political alliance was headed for a huge defeat following Sunday's parliamentary election. "L'Alliance Lepep is heading towards a huge defeat. I have tried to do what I can for the country and the population. The population has decided to choose another team. I wish good luck to the country," Jugnauth told reporters. Voters went to the polls to elect lawmakers for the 62 seats in parliament for the next five years, from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances. Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister's post.

Niamey, Niger — Nine members of an armed rebel movement seeking the release of Niger's ousted president surrendered Monday, officials in the north of the military-ruled country said.  The rebel Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) was set up in August 2023, a month after Niger's democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown in a military coup.  Since then, Bazoum has been imprisoned with his wife, Hadiza, at the presidential palace in Niamey.  An official from Agadez governorate told AFP, "Nine FPL fighters repented and handed over their weapons and ammunition on Monday during a ceremony in the presence of General Ibra Boulama," who is the governor of the region. FPL members began surrendering at the start of the month after discreet negotiations by "influential local personalities," the Air-Info media outlet reported.  On November 1, FPL spokesman Idrissa Madaki and three other members turned themselves in separately in two towns near the Libyan border, according to Niger's army and national television.  Last week, FPL leader Mahmoud Sallah was "provisionally stripped" of his nationality as were seven members of the Bazoum regime who were suspected of "terrorist bomb attacks."  Sallah had claimed responsibility for attacking the army in the north and disabling part of a crucial pipeline carrying crude oil to Benin in June. He had also threatened to attack strategic sites.  Another rebel movement also demanding Bazoum's release, the Patriotic Front for Justice (FPJ), has held since June the military prefect of northeastern Bilma and four of his security team, who were kidnapped after an ambush.  Authorities in Niger, which is also battling attacks by jihadist groups, have stepped up security in recent weeks, with military patrols, checks and searches of vehicles.

Vice President Kashim Shettima has stated that trade facilitation programmes implemented by the current administration increased the country’s trade balance to N6.5tn in the second quarter of 2024. He said efforts to maximise economic opportunities ensured that exports to other countries accounted for 60.89 per cent, or equivalent to N19.42tn of total trade, representing a

A total of 19 out of the shortlisted 38 directors for the position of permanent secretaries in the Federal Civil Service failed the qualifying examination. The PUNCH, in October, exclusively reported that the Federal Government, through the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, commenced the process of appointing new permanent secretaries

Open your Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 2; 1 Peter, chapter 2.  I trust this will be a helpful, instructive, and practical portion of Scripture for our edi

It has been pretty obvious to me over the last number of months that the church of Jesus Christ, at least as far as I can discern on a public level, has beco

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A soldier for Yemen's exiled government opened fire on Saudi troops as they exercised in eastern Yemen, killing two of them and wounding another in a rare insider attack during the kingdom's nearly decadelong war there, officials said Saturday. The assault in eastern Hadramawt province comes as a yearslong cease-fire between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi rebels largely has held despite the militants' ongoing attacks against shipping in the Red Sea corridor. While the Houthis did not claim the attack, at least one Houthi official praised it as being "the beginning and an indication of a harsh future awaiting the invaders." Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes carried out new strikes targeting Houthi positions that lasted into early Sunday morning, the American military said. The strikes come after the militants likely shot down yet-another American reconnaissance drone over the country. The attack on the Saudi troops took place Friday night in Seiyun, a city some 500 kilometers east of Sanaa. As troops worked out at a Saudi-led base there, the soldier opened fire, killing an officer and a noncommissioned officer, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said, citing a military statement. "The Joint Forces Command underscores that this 'Lone Wolf' cowardly attack does not represent the honorable members of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense," the statement added. The dead and the other wounded Saudi solider have been brought back to the kingdom, it added. Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the leader of Yemen's successionist Southern Transitional Council, identified the soldier who carried out the attack as belonging to the First Military Region, which is based out of Seiyun. Police in the area published pictures of the soldier, saying there was a 30-million-Yemeni-rial reward for information leading to the soldier's arrest. That's worth around $15,000 on the black market. Authorities offered no motive for the attack. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant group's Yemen branch, long has operated around Hadramawt. However, the group did not immediately claim the attack. A recent United Nations expert report has said that the al-Qaida group and the Houthis have begun to "coordinate operations directly with each other." The Houthis meanwhile did not claim the attack either. However, Houthi official Hamid Rizq praised the attack in a message on the social platform X, claiming it came from "the feeling of oppression" over Saudi troops being stationed in the area. "The heroic operation is the beginning and an indication of a harsh future awaiting the invaders," Rizq wrote. Yemen has been mired in a decadelong war since the Houthis swept into Sanaa from their northern strongholds in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war on behalf of Yemen's exiled government in 2015. The war further internationalized, with Iran backing the Houthis with weapons and support that cemented the conflict into a yearslong stalemate. The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. A cease-fire that expired in October 2022 largely has held in the time since, however, even as the Houthis have seized on the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel's invasion of Lebanon. On Saturday night, Houthi-run media reported U.S. airstrikes targeting areas around Sanaa. The airstrikes continued into Sunday morning and also included sites in Amran province just outside of the capital, the Houthis said. The rebels offered no immediate damage assessment from the strikes. The U.S. military later told The Associated Press on Sunday it conducted airstrikes "on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen." It described the sites as housing advanced conventional weapons used to target military and civilian ships in the Red Sea corridor but offered no other immediate details. The U.S. military has targeted radar stations, military bases and drone and missile launch sites since beginning its ongoing airstrike campaign against the Houthis in January. 

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Tuesday he's hopeful that meetings this week with Iranian officials, including the country's new president, can lead to a breakthrough in monitoring the country's nuclear program, a longstanding issue that has gained new urgency as Israel has twice struck Iran amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to Iran on Wednesday to meet for the first time with President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July. Grossi said he hopes to build on positive discussions he had with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during the U.N. General Assembly in September. "We have a problem that we need to solve," Grossi said in an interview at the U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan. "That is this gap, this lack of confidence, which we should not allow to grow into a self-fulfilling prophecy of using nuclear facilities as targets." He added: "There has been a bit of a dire straits dynamic with Iran that we want to go beyond." Iran is rapidly advancing its atomic program while increasing stockpiles of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, all in defiance of international demands, according to the IAEA. Iran says its program is for energy purposes, not to build weapons. Grossi's visit comes as Israel and Iran have traded missile attacks in recent months after more than a year of war in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, a group supported by Iran. Grossi noted that international law prohibits the attack of nuclear facilities and "it's obvious that is something that can have radiological consequences." The Biden administration said last month that it had won assurances from Israel that it would not attack nuclear or oil sites. A 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers put limits on Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. The deal included the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran. But that deal collapsed after Donald Trump's administration in 2018 pulled the United States from it. That led Iran to abandon all limits put on its program and enrich uranium to up to 60% purity. When asked if the IAEA feared Iran may be developing a bomb, Grossi said he didn't "have any information that would sustain that." He added that inspectors' job was not to "judge intentions," but rather verify that what Iran says about its nuclear program was true. Trump's reelection last week raises questions about whether and how the incoming administration and Iran may engage. Grossi said he had worked with the first Trump administration, which he said engaged in "seamless, professional work," and looked forward to looking with Trump's second administration. "Circumstances have changed in that the problem has grown bigger than it was," said Grossi. "The problem of not finding a solution."

"He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

All who come to God in faith will receive the reward of eternal life.

We've seen that without faith it's impossible to please God. And the first step in faith is believing that God exists. In addition, we must also believe that He answers our prayers—more specifically, that He redeems those who come to Him in faith.

Scripture repeatedly tells us that God not only can be found, but also desires to be found. David said to his son Solomon, "If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever" (1 Chron. 28:9). The Lord says in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jesus said, "Everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened" (Luke 11:10).

At first glance those verses may seem to contradict Paul's teaching that "there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside" (Rom. 3:11-12), and Jesus' statement that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). But really they're two sides of the same theological coin.

On one side you see man believing God and receiving Christ for salvation. On the other you see God enabling man to do so. Prior to salvation, a person is spiritually dead and utterly incapable of responding to the gospel. God must grant him or her saving faith. That's why the Bible contains statements like, "To you it has been granted for Christ's sake . . . to believe in Him" (Phil. 1:29); "As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48); and "The Lord opened [Lydia's] heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14).

God is the Great Rewarder, extending His love and grace to all who call upon Him. "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed" (Rom. 10:11).

Suggestions for Prayer

If you've been praying for someone's salvation, don't become discouraged. Only God can grant saving faith, but He gives us the privilege of participating in His redemptive work through faithful prayer and evangelism (Rom 10:1).

For Further Study

Memorize Ephesians 2:8-9.

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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No fewer than 971 Nigerians were abducted across the country in October 2024, DAILY POST learnt. The revelation is coming amid the emergence of a new terror group, ‘Lakurawa’ in the northwestern part of the country. The data is contained in the ‘October 2024 Nigeria Security Report’ by Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, BSIL, a […]

Over 971 Nigerians abducted in October 2024 – Report